Former US president Jimmy Carter says he believes much of the opposition against President Barack Obama is based on racism.

“I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he’s African American,” Carter told NBC in an interview on Wednesday.

[efoods]He added that many people in the United States feel that an ‘African-American should not be president’.

The 39th US president however predicted that Obama will be able to ‘triumph over the racist attitude’ so vividly demonstrated in public affairs in recent days.

Carter was referring to a massive taxpayers’ demonstration in Washington and angry town hall meetings directed against the president’s healthcare reforms and spending plans in the past weeks.

The recent remarks come a day after the US House of Representatives rebuked Republican lawmaker Joe Wilson for shouting ‘You lie!’ at Obama during an address on healthcare to Congress last Wednesday.

The House resolution of disapproval described the South Carolina Republican’s outburst as ‘a breach of decorum’.

Wilson’s eldest son, Alan, has denied that racism was a factor in his father’s outburst, as the Republicans characterized the vote as a political stunt.

Wilson himself maintained that his personal apology to Obama should have been enough to resolve the matter, adding that he did not plan to apologize on the House floor.

Obama ‘graciously accepted my apology and the issue is over’, he said.